המועדפים של michaelvoeltz

Observation for the bumble bee species.

There was a lot going on in this one... Most of these are stills from a "live" photo. I hadn't even noticed the jumping spider until after the shot (and chaos) occurred.

The spider struck the bee, the bee "kicked" it back (perhaps an example of the recently described disturbance leg-lift response), and the butterfly took flight.

You'll notice the spider is upside-down in the middle image, having flown and tumbled away from the kick. I have more stills from the live photo, if there's interest.

Observed on coyote brush.
Information on the species, thanks to @nancyasquith in this observation.

It took me some sleuthing to figure out where the actual type locality for this species was located. This species was described by Hershler (1995), and the type locality information provided was:

"Type locality: Unnamed spring about 4.8 km west-southwest of Hallelujah Junction, Long Valley, Lassen County, California, T. 22 N, R. 17 E, SW 1/4 sec. 9 (Figure 4E). Holotype, USNM 860642 (Figure 5E); paratypes, USNM 858262, collected by R. Hershler and D. Sada, 3 August 1990. Snails were commonly found on stones and in watercress of this large spring, which was situated adjacent to a residence and had been recently excavated."

"Remarks: This species is known only from the type locality in the southern end of the Honey Lake basin (Figure 6)."

The township and range described in the paper was wrong, as no springs matching the description provided were located there. However, using Google Earth I was able to identify a few possible spring candidates that could be the type locality approximately 4.8 km southwest of Hallelujah Junction. All of the springs that I thought could have been the type locality were located on private land owned by the City of Santa Clara. I obtained written permission to visit the property and quickly located the type locality spring behind the abandoned house on the property. Springsnails were not overly common in the spring, and the spring had been previously developed in the past. There was also evidence of use of the spring by cattle. I've attached two photos of the spring to this observation. I checked nearby springs to see if I could find springsnails, but I found no Pyrgulopsis in any other nearby springs.

The correct Township and Range for this spring and type locality would be: T. 22 N, R. 17 E, SE 1/4 sec. 17

https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/11299/iz_Hershler1995.pdf

found on submerged brick. I observed a huge population boom a few years ago at the site, but hadn't seen any since. Menetus opercularis or Gyraulus sp. ??? historically at the lake. See Cal academy (CAS-IZ 162252.00, collected 1869), Academy of Natural sciences Philadelphia database (ANSP #328863) and Hertlein & Smith 1960 Mollusks of Mountain Lake SF, CA. The Veliger, 2(3). P. 47-51. This snail is also at Lobos Creek.

Found under a broken slab of pavement piled by the side of the road, not dug from a burrow. I didn't notice anything resembling a turret or trapdoor next to the slab, but I could have easily missed it. Thoracic furrow doesn't look longitudinal to me, but I so rarely have a chance to see these spiders that I may not have a good sense for how pronounced that feature needs to be to make it something else.

I’ve often observed this miniature subspecies on the western portion of the county near Tomales Bay. Today I observed several of these diminutive arrosas (1 inch or less when fully matured) here at China Camp so it’s nice to know that this subspecies is also found along the eastern portion of the county as well.

Snails observed among wood debris beneath bay laurel trees along the shores of San Pablo Bay.